Shipping container



July 13, 1937. C c, STETSON 2,086,747

SHIPPING CONTAINER Filed June 8, 1931 220. METALUC RECEPTACLES,

Patented July 13, 1937 UNITED STATES grid:

PATENT OFFICE SHIPPING CONTAINER Charles C. Stetson, St. Paul, Minn.Application June 8, 1931, Serial No. 542,815

4 Claims.

My invention relates to an improvement in shipping containers by meansof which merchandise may be readily and safely shipped by railroad,steamship or truck. My construction of container provides a stronger,lighter and more easily handled shipping container than those nowcommonly in use.

It is my object to provide a container for the shipping of merchandisewhich is not too heavy to be handled easily by the aid of a lift truck.My shipping containers may be transported about the city upon a fiatbody automobile truck or may be placed within an ordinary large railroadbox car.

It is my purpose to make the complete container of sheet, steel oraluminum, and to mount the same upon certain shaped skids firmlyattached thereto. These skids act to hold the body of the container upoff the floor and give great rigidity to the structure. The skids arepennanently attached to the container and serve to support the weight ofthe sameas well as the weight of the cargo carried within the container.The floor and sides of the container are bound together by means ofthese skids which being connected together at the back and front of thestructure form a complete base or frame. Attaching rings for engagementwith the hooks or cables of a crane or derrick are connected throughsuitable side brace members with the skids. In this manner the sides andbottom are supported and braced when the container is lifted by a craneor the like. I It is the purpose of my invention to provide a containerwhich may ordinarily be handled by means of a lift truck of the typecommonly used in warehouses. The lift truck is rolled beneath thecontainer between the skids and is then raised, lifting the skids awayfrom the floor. The container may then easily be moved about as desired.

Other objects and novel features of my invention will be more clearlyand fully set forth in the following specification and claims.

In the drawing forming a part of myspecification:

Figure 1 is a front view of my container.

Figure 2 is a side view of the same.

Figure 3 is a detail view of a portion of my container, illustrating themanner in which the same is lifted by means of a lift truck.

Figure 4 is a perspective sectional detail of a portion of my container.

Figure 5 is a sectional detail through a portion of the flooring of mycontainer.

Figure 6 is a sectional detail of my corner construction.

Figure 7 is a sectional detail illustrating a modification of myflooring construction, before being pressed into finished form.

Figure 8 is a sectional detail of the flooring illustrated in Figure 7,after being pressed into finished form.

I make the floor of my container of two parallel sheets of steel, spacedapart and reinforced by a series of bridge pieces, as will be described,forming a duplex fiat fabric of great strength. The upper and lowersheets of steel extend the full size of the floor and the bridging ortrussing pieces fill the space between said sheets. All are fused orwelded together where they touch, forming a stifi and rigid fabric ofcomparatively light weight. When in use as a floor the upper sheet isunder compression and the lower under tension and the truss or bridgepieces which separate the sheets are under compression. These trusspieces are of peculiar shape and so formed that they present greatresistance to crushing or upsetting and thus efficiently hold apart andreinforce the main sheets at all points. They extend from side to sideof the container and thus reach from and over each of the supportingskids, in this way adding their strength to that of the main sheets ofthe flooring fabric.

My container A is mounted upon skids Hi. The skids II! are secured tothe lower surface of the bottom member or floor l l of the container A.A flange l2 extends outwardly and upwardly from the outer side of eachskid l0, and is welded or otherwise secured to the side wall IS oneither side of the container. The flange I2 also extends aroundpartially along the front I and the rear I5 of the container A, toreinforce the same.

, It is an object of my invention to provide skids for supporting thecontainer with an integral side flange adapted to overlap the lower edgeof each vertical side of the container and be welded or otherwisesecured thereto. The sides are in this manner supported rigidly to theflooring which is also tightly secured to the skids. A horizontal flangeon the inside of each of the skids provides a means of attaching theseskids rigidly to the floor and this flange extends a distance beneaththe floor surface to support the same. These last mentioned flanges alsoserve the purpose of providing a strong frame for the lift truck to bearagainst as the same is lifted and distributes the lift" evener, avoidingany tendency to sag. The skid members extend beyond the front and rearof the containers and act as bumpers to prevent injury to the body ofthe container. The projegtion of the skids is just sufficient to protectthe body of the shipping container and not sufficient to take up excessroom as the compact size of my container is a feature of myconstruction.

The skids H! are formed with a peculiar bottom construction adaptablefor supporting the weight of the container and cargo, and are tapered insuch a manner as to permit the container to ride over slight projectionsand inclines without danger of having the legs of the same drag upon therunway when the container is lifted only slightly by the lift truck B.The skids ID are tapered downwardly from the ends of the same to formleg surfaces l6 adapted to rest upon the fioor. The skids l are taperedupwardly from these leg portions I6 to form a recessed portion l1between the portions IS.

The ends l8 of, the skids l6 project outwardly somewhat beyond the endsof the container A, and act in the manner of bumpers, to protect thebody of the container A. Thus, the containers A are prevented from beinginjured by coming in too close contact with one another, and with otherobjects.

The front end l4 of the container A is equipped with a pair of doors I 9and 20. One of the doors, I9, is preferably wider than the other door,and if small articles are to be placed within the container A, thelarger door is opened, and the narrower door 20 remains closed.

An important feature of my improved container is the beveled or roundedcorners by which these important portions of the box are strengthenedand at the same time are so shaped that they will fend off anyobstruction and avoid hitting or engaging passing objects, while at thesame time they leave the inner of the box at approximately right angles.

Peculiarly shaped angle members 22 form the corners of the container Avertically, and act to connect the various vertical junctions betweenthe side and end walls. These angle members 22 may be welded or rivetedin place. The members 22 are quite wide, and are bent to an enclosedangle of somewhat more than 90 degrees. The side wall members [3 areconnected to the front wall l4 and the rear wall I5 in the mannerillustrated in Figure 6 of the drawing. The side walls l3, and the frontand rear walls I4 and I5 are tapered inwardly at a slight angle, asillustrated in Figure 6, and the angle members 22 secured to join andreinforce the corner. The angle members also serve to brace and supportthe top 23.

Diagonal braces 24 extending from near the bottom corners of each sidemember to the middle of the top of the side, act as supports for theside walls I 3 and connect each skid ID to a ring or loop 25 by means ofwhich the container A may be lifted by a derrick or crane. The liftingstrain is distributed by way of the skids ID to the whole container andcontents. The diagonal braces 24 serve to distribute the lifting strainalso when the container A is lifted by means of a lift truck B, as thetruck B is adapted to bear against flanges 25 on the skids I0, whichflanges serve to reinforce and connect these skids ID to the flooring ofthe container, and as these braces 24 are connected to the skids Ill.

The top 23 is arched or arcuated in preferred form, and is securelyattached to the sides l3 and the front and rear end walls l4 and I5respectively. The junction between the top and the various walls, aswell as the junction of the various walls themselves, is watertight andweatherproof,

and when the doors I!) and 20 are shut, the container A is tightlysealed against atmospheric conditions.

In cross section each of the truss pieces of my flooring is anapproximate flattened tube of sheet metal about twice as broad as deep,with four right angles lying fiat or longitudinally in the plane of themain floor sheets and paralleling with one long side the upper sheet andwith the other long side the lower sheet; the two short sides of eachtube extend vertically from main sheet to main sheet and resist firmlyany tendency for the sheets to bend together. One of the short sides issomewhat fluted or ribbed in the main portion of the distance indirection from one main sheet to the other, thus preventing. buckling orbending under pressure.

This bridging or truss piece is easily stamped out of sheet metal andindented in the line of the short surface as above described and thenbent into the flattened tube as desired, the lower edge of one sideabutting the other edge of the same sheet, to which it fits into a.slight lip. The next truss piece fits against the first lying paralleland extending from side to side of the entire floor, and the next trusspiece next to it and so on for the full surface of the floor structure.It will then be seen that at uniform short distances across the floorthe two main sheets are held firmly apart by the vertical short portionsof my bridging or truss tubes, two such short portions standing togetherand bracing each other. When slightly compressed and welded as describedherein, these two form an. integral part of the structure and supportthe upper and lower main sheets by their long sides and bracing thesheets apart by their short sides.

The flooring l l of my container A is built up of two sheets or plates26 and 21 of steel or other suitable material. The plates 26 and 21 arespaced apart by means of fiat tubularly shaped members 28 which aresubstantially rectangular in cross section, and which are formed bybending a sheet of steel or other suitable material into the correctform. The tubular members are placed side by side between the sheets 26and 21, transversely with the container, and are welded in thisposition. The sheets 26 and 21 are accordingly reinforced by the longsides 29 of the tubing 28, and are held in the proper spacedrelationship by the vertical short sides 36 of the same. It is obviousthat as the tubes 28 are placed side by side, two vertical short sides30 of adjacent tubes 28 are together, and are braced against oneanother. To make these vertical sides 38 still more rigid, one side wall30 of each tubular member 28 may be slotted to form ribs 32, asillustrated in Figure 4, or may be fluted to add to the rigidity. v i Ifit is desired, some of the tubular members 28 may be filled with plasticcement or concrete to further stiffen the flooring of the container, andto form a tight grip for any bolts 33 which may be used to hold theflanges 25 of the skids ID to the flooring l l. The constructionembodying the use of concrete or cement may be seen in Figure 5, inwhich one tubular member 28 is filled with cement 34, embedding the bolt33 tightly therein. 1

It is my purpose to form the side walls of a similar duplex weldedconstruction, if desired,

honey-combed or trussed floor many times stiffer Z5 220. METALLICRECEPTACLES,

and stronger than the same amount of metal flat in one sheet.

In the modified construction illustrated in Figures 7 and 8 of thedrawing, the flooring sheets 26 and 21 are spaced by means of invertedchannel or trough shaped members 31. The sides of each member 31 arebent at enclosed angles of greater than ninety degrees, so that when thechannel members 31 are placed between the sheets 26 and 21, the onlypoint of contact between two adjacent members is along the extreme freeedge 38 of the same, as illustrated in Figure 7. The channel members 31are preferably corrugated transversely, to enable them to withstandextreme strain, and are creased before bending to prevent the sheetsfrom buckling or splitting as they are bent. When placed side by side,with the free edges contacting as illustrated in Figure 7 of thedrawing, the adjacent channels 31 nest together.

The channels when in the described position are subjected to atransverse squeezing strain. The sides of each channel member are bentat right angles to the bottom of the channel, and the sides nest closelytogether. When in this position, they are welded to the sheets 26 and21.

The sides l3, and the front and rear walls I and I5 are also made in amanner similar to the flooring II, but need not be as heavy or thick, asthe strain upon the upright walls is not as great as that upon theflooring.

The containers A are just sufiicient size to be contained easily in abox car of large size. The shape is such that two containers A may beplaced in each end of the car, with the doors facing the center of thecar, and a fifth container may rest transversely with the car, facingthe door of the box car. When in place within a car in this manner, thecontainers may not well be opened, as space does not permit, preventingtheft of anything within the containers by breaking into the same duringtransit.

My containers A have been found very practical for the shipping ofgoods, and protect the goods therein against damage in transit. Mycontainers are of very sturdy construction, and will resist wear.Furthermore, they may be handled with a minimum of trouble, as they maybe moved from one position to another by means of a warehouse lift truckwithout the aid of a crane, and handled on or off a flat truck forScarcn rioom residence delivery. My containers are fireproof, rat andmice proof, sanitary and insulated somewhat against heat and cold. Theyare of proper size to hold the average lot of freight complete. Theypresent many obstacles to pilferers, as they are difllcult to break intobecause of the nature of their construction, and they are formed withthe body portion sufficiently far from the ground to prevent damage frombeing set in pools of water and the like.

In accordance with the patent statutes, I have described the principlesof operation of my shipping containers, and although I have endeavoredto set forth the best embodiments thereof, I desire to have itunderstood that these are only illustrative of a means of carrying outmy invention, and that obvious changes may be made within the scope ofthe following claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. A steel shipping container having a wall structure comprising,parallelly disposed steel plates spaced apart, reinforcing channelspacers extending between said plates having corrugated reinforcing ribsextending transversely therethrough, said spacers intermeshing with eachother when said channel spacers are compressed into operative positionbetween said plates.

2. A steel container including, spaced platelike members adapted to formthe sides of said container, and obtuse angle corners having beveledreceiving legs to which the inner portion of the marginal edges of saidplates are adapted to be secured when the marginal edges of said plateshave been bent to extend toward each other and to fit angularly withinsaid obtuse angle corner member.

3. A steel shipping container including, sides formed of spaced apartsteel plates, the edges of said plates being bent towards each other,and obtuse angle corner members into which the edges of said plates areadapted to fit and be secured.

4. A reinforcing wall portion for shipping containers including steelplates, reinforcing steel filler portions extending between said plates,some of said filler portions having a cementitious filler therein toprovide solid beam-like members in conjunction with said filler portionsbetween the plates forming said wall structure.

CHARLES C. STE'I'SON.

